Large-flowered Skullcap Recovery Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...

In Georgia, plants have been successfully transplanted from a site slated for development
and have been relocated to two sites in the Chattahoochee National Forest (Woster,
personal communication, 1993). The plants were collected while they were flowering and
were held by the Atlanta Botanical Garden over the winter. They were placed on slopes
facing both east and west, where they have been monitored for two field seasons.
Recovery Strategy
Long-term monitoring ofScutellaria montana on protected land is an important strategy
for the recovery of the species. Monitoring should include permanent plots on areas with
different management histories and forest compositions. By following individual plants
and plots through several years, trends in recruitment, mortality, and reproductive
capacity can be determined. With plots in a variety of forest types and management
histories, the effects ofdisturbance and management activities on reproductive capacity
can be followed.
Life history studies, including studies ofpollination and germination requirements,
phenology, and seed dispersal, could be a component ofa monitoring program.
Determination ofgermination requirements will require laboratory studies.
The Tennessee River Gorge, Hicks Gap, and Marshall Forest sites offer the greatest
potential for gains in studying this species over a range ofconditions. Lookout Mountain
would be another important site for study; it provides a fairly large and relatively
undisturbed area, where monitoring would be useful.
The protection of sizeable populations that occur on private land is another important
component ofthe recovery of Scutellaria montana. Currently, the second and third
largest populations occur on private land. These sites support populations considerably
larger than several publicly owned and protected sites.
A search for additional populations of Scutellaria montana throughout southeastern
Tennessee, northwestern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama will also be conducted to try
to increase the number ofknown extant populations.
Management plans should be developed for public land that is managed for recreation.
The plans should include limiting access to areas ofhabitat for Scutellaria montana and
the removal ofinvasive plant species that threaten populations on those sites. Additional
management needs should be incorporated into the management plans as the needs are
identified.
Propagation methods should be tested, and seeds should be placed in long-term storage.
Propagation from cuttings has shown some success and should be investigated further
(Patrick, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Freshwater Wetlands Heritage
Inventory, personal communication, 1993).
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